SL Huang

Speculative fiction author. Mathematician. Gunslinger.

Fiction Announcements

THE WATER OUTLAWS is out!

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The Water Outlaws book cover shows a woman with a weapon on a rearing horse, martial arts bandits in the background

Buy links in the US * Buy links in the UK

A 2023 Pick for Vulture | Men’s Health | IGN | Polygon | Goodreads | Amazon | Nerd Daily | WeAreBookish| Paste | Books, Bones & Buffy | The Escapist | Paste Magazine | SciFixFantasy | Distractify | Gizmodo| Ms. Magazine | Popsugar | Book Riot | Autostraddle| The Mary Sue & others

Inspired by a classic of martial arts literature, S. L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws are bandits of devastating ruthlessness, unseemly femininity, dangerous philosophies, and ungovernable gender who are ready to make history―or tear it apart.

“S.L. Huang’s new epic fantasy is a battle cry of a book. . . . A glorious, wuxia-inspired saga of femme and queer resistance in the face of oppression.”―BookPage, starred review

In the jianghu, you break the law to make it your own.

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor’s soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job.

Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away.

Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice―for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats.

Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.

Buy it now in the US!

Buy it now in the UK!

BURNING ROSES is Out in the World

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Burning Roses book cover

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it’s out!

If Red Riding Hood were a recovering assassin and teamed up with Hou Yi the Archer from Chinese mythology…

Oh and they’re both queer, middle aged, and expert markswomen.

“Old tales are given new life in S.L. Huang’s invigorating, crossover blend of Chinese and European folk stories. The combination of fairy tale, rich storytelling, and older queer women full of scars is everything I ever wanted in a book. A delightful, otherworldly read.”—Neon Yang

Get it here!

Burning Roses is Available for Preorder!

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Burning Roses book cover

For all your dark fairy tale remix needs. This novella stars Red Riding Hood as a recovering assassin and Houyi the Archer from Chinese mythology. In my version they’re both queer, middle aged, and expert markswomen, and they team up for adventure while angsting about their pasts. Publishers Weekly says, “Huang dazzles in this dark, diverse fairy tale remix. . . . Fantasy fans won’t want to miss this” (starred review).

Preorder here! Out September 29!

CRITICAL POINT is almost here! And you can get the paperback of NULL SET

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Null Set cover

Woop woop I’m way late on updating my news feed again. The big stuff is that Null Set came out in paperback a few months ago — heck yeah! In this time of pandemic you can order it from your favorite online retailer or get your local indie to ship it to you. (I love local indies so much… I hope they all come through this okay.)

Next, coming this week — Tuesday, in fact! — the third book, Critical Point, is hitting internet shopping portals everywhere! (Doesn’t have the same ring as “stores”, does it?) Preorders are on! Critical Point is a brand new book, never before seen ever. That means if you read Zero Sum Game and Null Set, this is the next adventure in the series, but if you were reading the self-published versions of the books a thousand years ago (oh god what is time, March was about three millennia long), this is ALSO the next book in the series for you. For more details, see this page.

But the main point is — Critical Point! Brand new! Totally awesome! I’m excited!

In my head, I like to call this one either “the one with all the explosions” or “the one that is (finally) super gay.” Both of these descriptions make me very happy.

I’ll be updating this news feed over the weekend with a bunch of virtual events I’m doing next week to promote Critical Point. If you’ve wanted to come to an event or signing with me and have never been able to because geography, virtual events at least have the upside of not being pinned down to anywhere in the world… so that’s a plus side. I’ll also be sending out more details in my newsletter, which you can sign up for here!

I hope everyone is doing as okay as possible. Stay safe, stay well.

Short Story: As the Last I May Know

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This short story actually came out two months ago — I’m terrible at updating things.

As the Last I May Know, at Tor.com

The story is inspired by one of the poems I read in the Nagasaki museum, by Atsuyiko Matsuo, who lost his wife and three children in the destruction. It’s haunted me ever since, especially these lines:

After losing everything.
I stand holding
four atomic bomb death certificates.

I’ve never forgotten it.

The death toll within a kilometer of the Nagasaki hypocenter was 100%.